These Notes Were Taken by a Student in Class, and Should Be Used for Reference Only
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These notes were taken by a student in class, and should be used for reference only. Please check them against the audio for accuracy of content. CLASS NOTES Course XIV: Lojong, Developing the Good Heart Class One: Eight Verses of Diamond Lion, Part One LO JONG Means Developing the Good Heart LO JONG Mental Training,orDeveloping the Good Heart. Jong can mean “to mind training make pure,” as in jong-chub (Buddha); or to “practice something” like football. Developing a good heart suggests a kind of radical behavior modification. It is meant to be used at work, with your family and in your life all day long. It is a major change in how you relate with other people, and it’s much more difficult than Buddhist logic and philosophy. It’s like a feeling of being in an airplane with others and the plane is going to crash and you all know that you’re in it together. The people all around us are suffering and dying. You’re going to lose everyone you love and everything you ever worked for. You have to jong this feeling – to practice or develop the feeling all daylong of loving other people around you who are dying and losing all the good things they have. Yet we waste our time struggling to get things we want for ourselves that we will lose anyway. There is no point to this selfish approach you have to life. You have to change your heart. Why not be good to each other? It takes a lot of practice. Ê LO JONG also Means Developing the Wish for Enlightenment Changkya Rinpoche (1642-1714) was part of the Changkya lineage of lamas who were teachers of the Chinese emperors. The correct peaceful connection between China and Tibet is the shared practice of Buddhism. He is a former life of Pabongka Rinpoche, but when Pabongka Rinpoche was teaching in Tibet (in the earlytwentieth century)he was not identified as the Changkya Rinpoche due to the dangerous relations with China. Changkya Ú ÚRinpoche defined lojong as the following: SEMPA CHENPO LANGRI TANGPA DOR - JE SENG-GE bodhisattva great (from a region in Tibet) diamond lion Ú º Ú ºÚ (king of stone) DZEPAY JANGCHUB SEM - JONG GI DAMPA TSIK-GYE MAR DRAKPA he made Buddhahood wish training of religious verses eight fem. we call… instruction 1 CLASS NOTES Course XIV: Lojong, Developing the Good Heart Class One, continued Diamond Lion from the Langri Tangpa region, who was a highlyrealized bodhisattva, made the Book In Eight Verses, the personal religious instruction on developing the wish to reach Buddhahood to help all beings. The Eight Verses is a dampa, or religious instruction whispered from teacher to student in a very holy moment. At a certain spiritual level, everything you hear becomes a dampa. Training (Jong) means you have to work hard at it. Lo and sem both mean mind, thought, or wish, but Chankya Rinposhe calls the Eight Verses a sem-jong (rather than lojong)to indicate that the goal of Buddhism is to develop the ultimate form of compassion (jang chub ki sem, or bodhichitta). This is the attitude of feeling that we are all in the same sinking ship together. We are all dying and losing every good thing we want, so you must be sweet to others and tryto love them and help them. This is whywe call lojong developing the good heart. Lo is a code word for bodhichitta which is the wish to reach enlightenment so that youÚ can help other people. DOR-JE SENG-GE Diamond Lion (1054-1123), the author of one of the most famous diamond lion lojong texts called the Eight Verses. He was one of the Kadampas, who were the first generation Buddhists in Tibet. Lojong texts were verypopular among the Kadampas. He is also called Geshe Langri Tangpa, after the plains of Langri, which is his native region. He was a sempa chenpo, a highlyrealized ºÚbodhisattva. He was one of the first geshes, which is spiritual friend. TSIK - GYE MA Lojong in the Eight Verses versesº eight ! feminine LO JONG GYA - TSA Compendium of Lojong texts, a collection of lojong mind training 100 root text texts" Ú# byMuchen Konchok Gyeltsen(14$ th century). Diamond Lion Verse 1 Three ways to translate the first of the eight verses: DAK NI SEMCHEN TAMCHE LA, YISHIN NORBU LE HLAKPAY me to all sentient beings wishing jewel more precious 2 CLASS NOTES Course XIV: Lojong, Developing the Good Heart Class One, continued The people around you are more precious than a wishing jewel, a jewel that gives you anything you wish for. There are three different ways to read this verse. 1. You can't conceive of how nice it will be when you get to your tantric enlightenment. Even if someone were to explain it to you, you couldn't even be able to think of it. That's whytantra is secret; it's a self-protecting secret. You can't imagine the process or the steps of the process until it starts happening. We wouldn't even know what to wish for. In that sense, anything that would bring you to tantric enlightenment would be better than a wish- giving gem. The only thing that would bring you to that is your relationships with the people around youall the time. So theyare veryveryprecious. DUN CHOK DUB PAY SAM PA YI, TAK TU CHI PAR DZIN PAR SHOK They're going to get me to heaven, I love you, thank you, test me, make me learn to be kind. To attain an ultimate angel's body, you have to do it with other people. You need to be around difficult people, the people yousee everydayat work, to be a real Buddhist. 2. The state of mind (bodhichitta, or ultimate compassion) that wants to reach the highest goal is more precious than a wish-giving gem. 3. Buddhahood itself is better than a wish-giving gem. Diamond Lion Verse 2 Wherever I am, whoever I'm with, may I see myself as lowest of all, and may I see others as the best. This is not an exercise in low self-esteem. It doesn't mean you should see yourself as bad or incapable. It means that anyone could be an enlightened being; you don't know. According to the scriptures, there should be a few in everycrowd. It's no trouble for them to appear to you that way to help you. Among the people you see every day there are a few who are alreadyenlightened, and theyare tryingveryhard to get youenlightened. Tryto listen to them, and understand what theyare tryingto tell you. Diamond Lion Verse 3 Once in awhile you're going to get upset or have a bad thought in your mind. Stop it immediately. The minute you start to feel bad towards someone. Face it and admit it's your problem. Theyare suffering the same as youare, and according to the laws of karma, even one moment of slight irritation at someone has profound effects on your future. Diamond Lion Verse 4 Bad people are hard to find, so try to get the most out of it. According to Master Shantideva, once you learn the secret of Buddhism, which is to stop reacting to them in a bad way, you stop the karma of meeting them again. The best way to get rid of people you don't like is to realize that you have made them that way, and to be kind to them. 3 CLASS NOTES Course XIV: Lojong, Developing the Good Heart Class Two: Eight Verses of Diamond Lion, Part Two This teaching is verydifficult because yourmind won’t want to accept it. It’s veryhard to live the waythese verses describe. You are cursed from now on because you’llknow the right wayto live but youwon’t want to do it. Diamond Lion Verse 5 DAK LA SHEN GYI TRAKDOK GI SHE KUR LA SOK MIRIKPAY me to others byjealousy out of criticize etc. untrue, undeserved GYONGKA RANG-GI LENPA DANG GYELKA SHEN LA BULWAR SHOK the loss byyourself take it and the profit others to offer it mayI Other people, because they’re jealous, will say bad things to me out of jealousy, etc. May I take the loss myself and offer the profit to others with great love and respect. You must analyze and figure out where the bad things in your life come from, such as a person who criticizes you unjustly. This is wisdom. You must distinguish between how someone is doing something bad to you, versus where they come from in the first place. You must go beyond knowing how it happens and figure out why it happens. For example, cancer comes from cells that divide uncontrollably, but why did you get the cancer? You will never reach paradise until you figure out why bad things happen to you. This is the real goal of Buddhism. For example, if we live in a world where we have to see people disrespecting and saying bad things about His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the reason why this is happening is that we haven’t been good enough to our Lama ourselves. If you don’t like people treating you poorly, then keep your vows perfectly, then you won’t have to see these people anymore. This is the hardest teaching to follow. Then, in any kind of controversy, competition, problem between two human beings, you decide to take the loss or disadvantage yourself, and give the advantage or gain to others.